Lions Fight Crocodile Over Dead Elephant

Published 3:17 pm, Tuesday, August 26, 2014

While vacationing in Kenya with his family, Kai Banks witnessed something unusual: Three lions fighting with a giant crocodile.

"We knew it was something special when our guide's mouth dropped open as soon as the lions jumped onto the crocodile," Banks wrote.

The beginning of the fight reminds me of my cats at home, playing with a toy:

But soon the lion brings in reinforcements, ganging up on the crocodile:

According to Banks, the animals were fighting over the carcass of an elephant that had died the night before of natural causes. Eventually the lions won, critically injuring the croc in the process. (Banks's camera ran out of memory so he only caught stills of the second half of the fight.)

Banks notes in the comments on his video: "It was severely wounded. We believe the lions managed to break or dislocate one of its legs (see the stills from the second [half of the] fight). A wounded young crocodile can't survive for too long in the wild, unfortunately, so my best guess is that this particular one is resting in peace. "

The video was originally uploaded to YouTube by Kai Banks. The first half of the fight was caught on film while the second half is just stills. Warning the later images are graphic: